https://popularresistance.org/former-cia-contract-pilot-tosh-plumlee-there-are-many-more-american-soldiers-like-willy-joseph-cancel-already-in-ukraine/
By Phillip F. Nelson, Covert Action Magazine.
May 5, 2022
Educate!
According To Former CIA Contract Pilot Tosh Plumlee, The Operation To Recruit Mercenaries To Fight The Russians In Ukraine Is Similar To An Old 1983-86 Iran-Contra Project Run By Ollie North.
Willy Joseph Cancel, a native of Orange County, New York, became the first U.S. casualty of the Ukraine War last week.
The U.S. Marine veteran was killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces while working for a private U.S. military contractor. He was ambushed by Russian forces during a night-time patrol—though his body has not yet been recovered.
Cancel served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2017 to 2021; he received a bad conduct discharge in November after serving time in the brig for an undisclosed criminal offense.
His mother, Rebecca Cabrera, said that her son went over to fight in Ukraine because “he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it.”
William “Tosh” Plumlee, a CIA contract pilot who participated in arms and drug smuggling missions into Nicaragua during the 1980s, said that “there are many more American soldiers like Willy Joseph Cancel already in Ukraine.”
Indeed, The New York Times reported last week that, around the time of Cancel’s death, two other Americans, Paul K. Gray, 42, of Tyler, Texas, and Manus E. McCaffery, 20, of Parma, Ohio, both of whom had served in the U.S. Army, were injured when a Russian artillery shell hit their fighting position in Zolote in eastern Ukraine.
The two were waiting to launch an ambush on a Russian tank using Javelin anti-tank missiles when shrapnel hit Mr. McCaffery in the face and collapsed a concrete block wall onto Mr. Gray, injuring his leg, according to Twitter posts by American journalist Nolan Peterson. Video and photos recorded by Mr. Gray show the two camouflage-clad fighters receiving first aid and riding in a military ambulance a short time later, with Mr. McCaffery’s face and head covered in bloody bandages.
The Times report gives substance to the claims of Plumlee who is clearly in the know. For multiple decades, the CIA contract pilot personally engaged in the CIA’s use of such programs beginning in the 1950s and, for the next five decades, continuing on part-time consulting work to the present day.
In January 2022, Newsweek published a revealing article about the large number of foreign fighters in Ukraine’s army, and how Ukraine had evolved into a mecca for white supremacists who wanted to spill Russian blood.
One of these white supremacists, Craig Lang, was even wanted for a double-murder of a Florida couple in the U.S.
In line with a general blackout on the topic, the mainstream media predictably underplayed Cancel’s employment with a private military contractor which is what accounted for his death.
One must ask whether that might be a project that anyone, or any entity, in their right mind would take on merely because they favored one side or another in wartime conditions? The risk to a private corporation’s continued solvency would be in constant jeopardy given the potential costs of recruiting personnel, and losing them; I will leave it to the reader to work through what that might entail.
The obvious answer to this puzzle is that such a creation might only exist with the financial backing of one or more of the “Alphabet Agencies,” maybe the one located in Northern Virginia, across the Potomac River and the George Washington Parkway from Washington, D.C.
The following information comes directly from William “Tosh” Plumlee and has been edited for proper context. Tosh explained how he had been contacted by a person, whom he wants to remain anonymous, who is currently employed within the Pentagon. The narrative below came from an email dated February 3, 2022, three weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was not due to anyone’s clairvoyance that a prediction was stated by this person who knew that the military and intelligence services were already taking many steps to ramp up calls for “soldiers of fortune.”
ANONYMOUS SOURCE: “Private contractors were currently hiring mercenaries and ex-U..S military S.O.F. [Soldier of Fortune] for Ukraine service; also, as I told you it would only be a matter of time before we lost an American citizen-fighter in a Ukraine-Russian war.”
TOSH PLUMLEE: “Yes, it was an old operation which had been used many times before.”
ANONYMOUS SOURCE: “Do you know of any American military personnel operating in Ukraine?”
TOSH PLUMLEE: Explaining that he hadn’t, he stated: “This operation is similar to an old 1983-86 Iran-contra project run by Ollie North, the White House, and the Pentagon: [Iran-Contra hearings. Senator John Kerry, Senator Gary Hart, Senate Arms Service Committee. Senate Foreign Relations Committee; documented]. These are cut-out companies financed by the U.S. Government, Pentagon, and U.S. State Department. It is an old CIA, Pentagon, operation; a very hush-hush operation that has been in force for decades- “Private armies-private contractors.”
ANONYMOUS SOURCE: “Currently, there are 168 ex-U.S. servicemen in the Ukraine training and being active fighters on the front line. We, the U.S, are active and have U.S. citizens, ex-servicemen, participating in this Ukraine-Russian war. These ex-servicemen are employed by private U.S. companies [‘Cut-Outs’] that have been awarded secret U.S. State Department contracts.”
TOSH PLUMLEE: This procedure effectively extends the Pentagon’s reach into the middle of conflicts that the U. S. military has never been authorized to participate. Yet, through the privately run-publicly financed arrangement, can put their “boots on the ground.” This has been a decades-old [covert-CIA-Pentagon] practice. These private [classified] contracts*—to private American companies—*total millions of taxpayer monies. It is a very hush-hush, ongoing, CIA/Pentagon, White House, operation. Remember “Black-Water” and the “School of the Americas”? An example of this is illustrated in a 1987 CBS News broadcast with Connie Chung, then hosting the Eye to Eye news program, with Bernard Goldberg reporting on the suspected murder of Marine Colonel James E. Sabow (the video is shown below).
A fellow whistleblower friend of Tosh’s, Gene Wheaton, a former military investigator retained by the Sabow family, was quoted in a 1994 Newsweek magazine article as to what happened:
Specifying that the Navy’s criminal-investigation service is notably less competent than those of other armed services, Wheaton said “They don’t think like cops*—*they think like bureaucrats. They want to go in and close the whole thing out.” Wheaton also claimed the Marine brass is concealing a pattern of covert arms smuggling that is “a continuation of Iran-Contra”—and implied that Sabow must have known something illegal was going on.
Someone evidently decided that Col. Sabow was getting too close to a major national scandal in his on-going investigation into the use of the El Toro Marine Air Base for the importation of massive amounts of drugs from Central America. Bernie Goldberg introduced the Sabow matter on Connie Chung’s program after interviewing Tosh and Gene Wheaton.
Also, presented below is a video of Morley Safer interviewing Tosh Plumlee (circa 1986) on 60 Minutes about this very subject.
[Tosh]: “I believe the media [U.S. MSM] will be breaking this story very soon . . . until then you have it first, and it too is ‘before the fact.’”
As always, the White House, U.S. State Department and CIA will take issue and say they know nothing about those current operations. However, previous documentation and interviews state otherwise. The CBS 60 Minutes interview with Marine Col. James Sabow, and the 60 Minutes segment “Our Planes are Missing,” are but two references that support the ongoing operations.
Saturday, May 7, 2022
There Are Many American Soldiers Already In Ukraine
Scientists identify the most extreme heatwaves ever recorded globally
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220504144530.htm
A new study has revealed the most intense heatwaves ever across the world -- and remarkably some of these went almost unnoticed decades ago.
The research, led by the University of Bristol, also shows heatwaves are projected to get hotter in future as climate change worsens.
The western North America heatwave last summer was record-breaking with an all-time Canadian high of 49.6 °C in Lytton, British Columbia, on June 29, an increase of 4.6 °C from the previous peak.
The new findings, published today in Science Advances, uncovered five other heatwaves around the world which were even more severe, but went largely underreported.
Lead author, climate scientist Dr Vikki Thompson at the University of Bristol, said: "The recent heatwave in Canada and the United States shocked the world. Yet we show there have been some even greater extremes in the last few decades. Using climate models, we also find extreme heat events are likely to increase in magnitude over the coming century -- at the same rate as the local average temperature."
Heatwaves are one of the most devastating extreme weather events. The western North America heatwave was the most deadly weather event ever in Canada, resulting in hundreds of fatalities. The associated raging wildfires also led to extensive infrastructure damage and loss of crops.
But the study, which calculated how extreme heatwaves were relative to the local temperature, showed the top three hottest-ever in the respective regions were in Southeast Asia in April 1998, which hit 32.8 °C, Brazil in November 1985, peaking at 36.5 °C, and Southern USA in July 1980, when temperatures rose to 38.4 °C.
Dr Vikki Thompson, from the university's Cabot Institute for the Environment, said: "The western North America heatwave will be remembered because of its widespread devastation. However, the study exposes several greater meteorological extremes in recent decades, some of which went largely under the radar likely due to their occurrence in more deprived countries. It is important to assess the severity of heatwaves in terms of local temperature variability because both humans and the natural eco-system will adapt to this, so in regions where there is less variation, a smaller absolute extreme may have more harmful effects."
The team of scientists also used sophisticated climate model projections to anticipate heatwave trends in the rest of this century. The modelling indicated levels of heatwave intensity are set to rise in line with increasing global temperatures.
Although the highest local temperatures do not necessarily cause the biggest impacts, they are often related. Improving understanding of climate extremes and where they have occurred can help prioritise measures to help tackle this in the most vulnerable regions.
Co-author Professor Dann Mitchell, Professor in Climate Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: "Climate change is one of the greatest global health problems of our time, and we have showed that many heatwaves outside of the developed world have gone largely unnoticed. The country-level burden of heat on mortality can be in the thousands of deaths, and countries which experience temperatures outside their normal range are the most susceptible to these shocks."
In recognition of the dangerous consequences of climate change and a clear commitment to help tackle this, in 2019 the University of Bristol became the first UK university to declare a climate emergency.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Bristol. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference: Vikki Thompson, Alan T. Kennedy-Asser, Emily Vosper, Y. T. Eunice Lo, Chris Huntingford, Oliver Andrews, Matthew Collins, Gabrielle C. Hegerl, Dann Mitchell. The 2021 western North America heat wave among the most extreme events ever recorded globally. Science Advances, 2022; 8 (18) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm6860
Lunar soil has the potential to generate oxygen and fuel
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220505114655.htm
Soil on the moon contains active compounds that can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and fuels, scientists in China report May 5 in the journal Joule. They are now exploring whether lunar resources can be used to facilitate human exploration on the moon or beyond.
Nanjing University material scientists Yingfang Yao and Zhigang Zou hope to design a system that takes advantage of lunar soil and solar radiation, the two most abundant resources on the moon. After analyzing the lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e 5 spacecraft, their team found the sample contains compounds -- including iron-rich and titanium-rich substances -- that could work as a catalyst to make desired products such as oxygen using sunlight and carbon dioxide.
Based on the observation, the team proposed an "extraterrestrial photosynthesis" strategy. Mainly, the system uses lunar soil to electrolyze water extracted from the moon and in astronauts' breathing exhaust into oxygen and hydrogen powered by sunlight. The carbon dioxide exhaled by moon inhabitants is also collected and combined with hydrogen from water electrolysis during a hydrogenation process catalyzed by lunar soil.
The process yields hydrocarbons such as methane, which could be used as fuel. The strategy uses no external energy but sunlight to produce a variety of desirable products such as water, oxygen, and fuel that could support life on a moonbase, the researchers say. The team is looking for an opportunity to test the system in space, likely with China's future crewed lunar missions.
"We use in-situ environmental resources to minimize rocket payload, and our strategy provides a scenario for a sustainable and affordable extraterrestrial living environment," Yao says.
While the catalytic efficiency of lunar soil is less than catalysts available on Earth, Yao says the team is testing different approaches to improve the design, such as melting the lunar soil into a nanostructured high-entropy material, which is a better catalyst.
Previously, scientists have proposed many strategies for extraterrestrial survival. But most designs require energy sources from Earth. For example, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover brought an instrument that can use carbon dioxide in the planet's atmosphere to make oxygen, but it's powered by a nuclear battery onboard.
"In the near future, we will see the crewed spaceflight industry developing rapidly," says Yao. "Just like the 'Age of Sail' in the 1600s when hundreds of ships head to the sea, we will enter an 'Age of Space.' But if we want to carry out large-scale exploration of the extraterrestrial world, we will need to think of ways to reduce payload, meaning relying on as little supplies from Earth as possible and using extraterrestrial resources instead."
Story Source:
Materials provided by Cell Press. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference: Yingfang Yao, Lu Wang, Xi Zhu, Wenguang Tu, Yong Zhou, Rulin Liu, Junchuan Sun, Bo Tao, Cheng Wang, Xiwen Yu, Linfeng Gao, Yuan Cao, Bing Wang, Zhaosheng Li, Wei Yao, Yujie Xiong, Mengfei Yang, Weihua Wang, Zhigang Zou. Extraterrestrial photosynthesis by Chang’E-5 lunar soil. Joule, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.04.011
Israeli court approves mass forced transfer of Palestinians
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israeli-court-approves-mass-forced-transfer-palestinians
Maureen Clare Murphy Rights and Accountability 5 May 2022
Israeli forces conduct a drill in the Masafer Yatta area of the southern West Bank in February 2021. Keren Manor ActiveStills
Israel’s high court approved the forced expulsion of more than 1,000 Palestinians from eight villages in the Masafer Yatta area of the southern West Bank overnight Wednesday.
If Israel carries through with the forcible transfer, it will be one of the single largest expulsions of Palestinians since it occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967.
It will also be a war crime, despite the creative legal analysis put forth by the Israeli judges who signed off on the decision and who may be liable for prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
That tribunal is currently investigating alleged war crimes perpetrated in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip since 2014.
In 2018, Fatou Bensouda, the court’s former chief prosecutor, warned Israel that “extensive destruction of property without military necessity and population transfers in an occupied territory constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute,” the ICC’s founding treaty.
Bensouda’s warning was in reference to Israel’s plans to forcibly transfer the Palestinian residents of Khan al-Ahmar in the southern West Bank. Israel has refrained from carrying out those plans, likely in large part because of ICC scrutiny.
That tribunal in The Hague investigates individuals rather than states. By approving the Israeli government’s plans to forcibly transfer Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, the judges who unanimously ruled in favor of the state this week may attract unwanted court attention.
No justice in “occupier’s court”
The judges’ decision will also bolster the arguments of Palestinians and international observers that there is scant justice to be found in “the occupier’s court,” as the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem put it on Thursday.
As a court of last resort, the ICC defers to national proceedings under the principle of complementarity – meaning that it privileges a country’s internal investigations into suspected war crimes, where they exist.
By contrast, with this week’s ruling, Israel’s high court once again demonstrates that its role is to legitimize and facilitate war crimes.
In the Masafer Yatta ruling, the judges reject the claim that forcible transfer is prohibited under international law, treating it as a treaty norm – meaning that it reflects “agreements between states but is not enforceable in a domestic court,” according to Michael Sfard, a human rights lawyer who characterized that analysis as “an embarrassing legal error.”
His view was shared by Francesca Albanese, the new UN special rapporteur for human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who said that “dismissing the binding force of almost universally ratified [international] treaties” in the context of the occupation amounts to “apartheid.”
This week’s high court ruling would not be the first time that Israel has invented a legal paradigm to justify oppressive measures against Palestinians.
Israel’s judicial system as a whole exists to provide a liberal and democratic facade to a brutal settler-colonial regime.
The ruling should also serve as a reminder that just about every facet of the Israeli government is implicated in Israel’s settlement enterprise in the occupied West Bank – likely to be a primary focus of the ICC investigation, should it move forward.
The same goes for Israeli government personnel, including David Mintz, one of the three justices who issued the Masafer Yatta verdict. Mintz, who was born in England, lives in Dolev, a settlement in the West Bank built in violation of international law.
“Expel us one by one”
The ruling by Mintz and the other judges finds that the residents of eight villages in Masafer Yatta, near Hebron, began living illegally in the area after it was declared a military firing zone in 1981, despite Palestinians having resided there before the establishment of Israel in 1948.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel presented aerial footage to the court to demonstrate that the villages had existed in Masafer Yatta for generations, according to the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz.
“The court rejected the claim that turning the area into a closed military zone was contrary to international law, and said that when international law contradicts Israeli law, the latter prevails,” Haaretz added.
Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s agriculture minister, admitted in 1981 that the area was declared a firing zone for the purpose of displacing Palestinians from their land so it may be seized by Israel.
Palestinians in Masafer Yatta have mounted a legal challenge to Israel’s plans ever since then.
The high court decision concluding two decades of legal proceedings was delivered overnight on the eve of this year’s commemoration of Israeli “Independence Day.”
Israel declared its independence on 14 May 1948 following a bloody campaign of ethnic cleansing that left hundreds of Palestinian cities, towns and villages destroyed and depopulated.
The hundreds of thousands of Palestinians forced from their homes and lands around the time of Israel’s declaration of independence, as well as their descendants, remain refugees or internally displaced within Israel.
Basel Adra, a Palestinian resident of Masafer Yatta, stated after the Israeli high court ruling on Thursday that “the army can now place us on trucks … and expel us from our ancient villages, one by one.”
Breaking the Silence, a group of whistleblowing former Israeli soldiers, said that the forced transfer of Masafer Yatta residents “is not only a humanitarian catastrophe that could set a precedent for other communities across the West Bank, but a clear step in de facto annexation … and cementing military rule indefinitely.”
Each of the Masafer Yatta petitioners were ordered by the high court judges to pay around $6,000 in legal expenses for their bid to remain on their land.
Masafer Yatta
israeli high court
International Criminal Court
forcible transfer
Michael Sfard
Francesca Albanese
David Mintz
closed military zones
Basil al-Adraa
Breaking the Silence Maureen Clare Murphy's blog
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